The pollution of water by the fashion industry is extremely wide and devastating. It comes in many forms, some examples include dumping of toxic chemical wastes such as dyes into water bodies, the degradation of synthetic textiles that causes pollution by microplastics and water wastage that amount from the manufacturing of clothes. Today, I will be talking about the detrimental effects of dye and its contribution to water pollution.
Textile dyes are synthetic chemical compounds that are thermally and photo stable, this allows them to resist biodegradation and hence are able to remain in the environment for a long time (Gita, Hussan and Choudhury, 2016). These textile dyes are used in the colouring of the fabrics and when the process is finished, some of these dyes become effluents and they get dumped into water bodies (Yaseen and Scholz, 2018). These have detrimental effects on the environment as if they are large quantities of these dyes in water bodies such as rivers and lakes, they can prevent sunlight from penetrating due to their light absorption properties. Aquatic plants and algae would not be able to carry out photosynthetic activities which could possibly lead to to the deaths of these organisms (Gita, Hussan and Choudhury, 2016). The oxygen levels in these water bodies will decline, affecting the aquatic organisms residing there. Furthermore, according to research, these dyes have can also damage the intestinal and gill structures of fishes. (Gita, Hussan and Choudhury, 2016). Besides the horrible effects on aquatic fauna and flora, some of these dyes have carcinogenic properties that are extremely harmful to human health (Gita, Hussan and Choudhury, 2016).
In the following blogpost I will be talking about another type of water pollution caused by the fashion industry so stay tuned!
Reference:
Gita, S., Hussan, A. and Choudhury, T., 2016. Impact of Textile Dyes Waste on Aquatic Environments and its Treatment. Environment & Ecology, [online] 35(3(C). Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321443064_Impact_of_Textile_Dyes_Waste_on_Aquatic_Environments_and_its_Treatment> [Accessed 10 September 2020].
Yaseen, D. and Scholz, M., 2018. Textile dye wastewater characteristics and constituents of synthetic effluents: a critical review. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, [online] 16(2), pp.1193-1226. Available at: <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13762-018-2130-z> [Accessed 10 September 2020].
Featured Image:
The Independent UK, 2018. THE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF FAST FASHION. [image] Available at: <https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/environment-costs-fast-fashion-pollution-waste-sustainability-a8139386.html> [Accessed 10 September 2020].